William Empson
Essays on Renaissance Literature, Volume 1: Donne and the New Philosophy.
Cambridge University Press, 1993. First edition. 0521440432 xvi/296 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 6.25" x 9.25", is bound in black cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine. Book is like new, with publisher's review copy slip laid in. Dust jacket is preserved in mylar cover.
"The first volume (edited with a substantial introduction by leading Empson scholar John Haffenden) gathers Empson's passionate, controversial essays on John Donne, examining the ideological and ethical conflicts that inspired the poet and his work. The collection includes hitherto unpublished pieces about some of the most influential Renaissance writers and scientists (Empson believed that Donne was profoundly inspired by new scientific discoveries and that he held advanced views on church and state). Lucid, closely argued, and provocative, the book affords a rich analysis of Donne in his time: a poet torn between a defunct cosmology and a new world order. This is vintage Empson - the critic as genius." (Dust jacket text).